Wilson 6A
Key Questions
Who Governs?
To What Ends?
Since Congress enacts our
laws, why has it not made
that all groups have the
same rights?
If the law supports equality
of opportunity, why has
affirmative action become
so important?
After the Supreme Court
ended racial segregation in
the schools, what did the
president and Congress do?
Under what circumstances
can men and women be
treated differently?
Civil Rights
When a group is denied access to facilities, opportunities,
or services available to other groups.
Reasonable differences in treatment
• Progressive taxation
• Quotas
Unreasonable differences in classification
• Voting rights
• Housing
Black Predicament
Whites threatened by integration
• Majority black
• Compete for jobs
• Political power
Racism
• 3,600 lynchings
• Property restriction
• Belief in segregation
Strategy
• Needed white allies
• Move issue to the Courts
• Civic protest (public awareness)
14th Amendment
“Equal protection of the laws”
• Broad interpretation – Constitution is color blind and can
make no distinction of race
• Narrow interpretation – equal legal rights for all, but with
reasonable distinctions
• Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
• Narrow view
• Separate but equal doctrine
Separate But Equal
NCAAP
• Started to stop lynchings
• Worked through the Courts to end segregation
• Require equality of education
• Missouri Law School – Llyod Gaines
• Oklahoma Law School – Ada Lois Sipuel
• Attack constitutionality of segregation
• Texas Law School – Herman Sweatt
• Oklahoma PhD Program – George McLaurin
• Force integration
• Topeka Public Schools – Brown
• Charlotte Public Schools – Swan
Brown v. Board of Education
Unanimous opinion overturned Plessy
• 14th Amendment not intended to abolish segregation
• Relied on social science, racist paradigm
• Segregation created a sense of inferiority
Implementation
• Class action – “similarly situated”
• Done through local federal courts
• “all deliberate speed”
• Southern Manifesto – “abuse of judicial power”
• Resistance for decades
Integration
De jure (south) – required by law
De facto (north) – resulting from patterns of residential
settlement
• “Freedom of choice” plan in New Kent County, VA
• Did not produce a “unitary, non-racial system”
• Swan v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg
• Prove intent to discriminate
• History of segregation
• Quotas, redrawn district lines, court-ordered busing
• Not every school needs to reflect district numbers
Court-ordered Busing
Mandated if city and suburb had practiced segregation
Not necessary to continually redraw lines and bus routes
• White flight may create single-race schools
• Integrated schools found in integrated neighborhoods
• Controversial until ended in 1992 (DeKalb County, GA)
• Partisan issue
• Republicans in opposition
• Local control
Civil Rights in Congress
Strong opposition
• Southern democrats on judiciary committee
• Howard Smith headed rules committee
• Senate filibuster
• Kennedy reluctant
Break deadlock
• Changing public opinion
• Media coverage of violence
• Kennedy assassination
• Democratic control of government
Civil Rights Legislation
Voting rights
• 1957, 1960, 1965
Housing discrimination
• 1968
Civil rights bill
• 1964
• Mood of Congress favors civil rights
• African American voting and representation
• White elitism declined
Civil Rights Protests
• Mobilize opinion by dramatic events
• Sit-ins
• Freedom rides
• Marches
• Voter registration
• Montgomery Bus Boycott
• Nonviolent civil disobedience
• Seen as law-breaking by many whites
• Racial violence and threats
• Conscious and agenda-setting
Racial Profiling
Law enforcement more likely to stop someone of a
particular race or ethnicity
• Insufficient data on how police make judgments
• Balance between safety and rights
• Opponents say profiling is discrimination
• Proponents willing to stop innocent people for the sake
of public safety; some groups more likely to break law
• 9/11 raised debate and stakes